THE Canaries welcome Aston Villa to Carrow Road for this Saturday’s early kick-off in the Barclays Premier League – and City will be hoping to maintain their impressive run of home form.

Coincidentally, Villa are the only team to have beaten Chris Hughton’s men at Carrow Road in their last 11 competitive matches having snatched a 2-1 victory thanks to Gabriel Agbonlahor’s brace at the business end of the last season.

City have notched wins against Bury and Southampton so far on home turf this year, on top of earning a deserved point against Everton on the opening day of the campaign.

The teams met three times in total last season, with Paul Lambert’s side winning 4-1 in their Capital One Cup quarter-final and the Premier League match at Villa Park ending all square.

The visitors lead the overall head-to-head record between the two teams, having won 27 of the 60 meetings. City have triumphed 17 times, with the other 16 games resulting in draws.

LAST TIME AROUND… Norwich City 1-2 Aston Villa May 4 2013 – Premier League
The Canaries’ relegation worries heightened back in May when Gabriel Agbonlahor scored twice in the penultimate Carrow Road fixture of the campaign.

Grant Holt had equalised Agbonlahor’s opener from the penalty spot, but the striker slotted home in the 89th minute to all but secure Villa’s survival in the top flight.

Chris Hughton said afterwards: “I'm annoyed and frustrated because there was no way we should have lost or deserved to lose.

“We were the better side over 90 minutes but Villa have pace on the counter-attack and we have conceded two poor goals today.

"Next week's game against West Brom becomes a bigger game. We will need a better performance but we can't concede the goals we conceded today and expect to win football matches."